Unruly passengers on US flights are too high, FAA says, so it expands increasingly difficult masking policy

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(CNN) – The Federal Aviation Administration will expand its tighter enforcement against unruly passengers – particularly targeting those who disobey the masking policy – after receiving more than 500 reports of misbehaving passengers since December, the agency said Monday.

“The number of cases we are seeing is still far too high, and it tells us urgent action is still needed,” said FAA Administrator Steve Dickson.

The announcement was made when the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said there were more people traveling by air in the past four days than during any other period of similar length during the pandemic.

The TSA said it screened 1,344,128 people at airports on Sunday, meaning 5.2 million people have flown since Thursday. On Friday, 1,357,111 passengers were screened, the highest one-day number since March 15, 2020.

While the increase in travel is good news for the struggling airline industry, the increase in passenger numbers could mean an increase in in-flight incidents.

The FAA’s Dickson said he has instructed agency officials to consider both civil fines and criminal charges for reports of unruly passengers.

“I have decided to expand the FAA’s unruly zero-tolerance passenger policy while continuing to do everything we can to deal with the pandemic,” he said in a statement. “The policy mandates our security inspectors and attorneys to take strong enforcement action against any passenger who disrupts or threatens the safety of a flight, with penalties ranging from fines to imprisonment.”

The reinforced enforcement was set to expire at the end of the month, but will now remain in effect until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lift their warrant and require face masks to be worn on mass and commercial modes of transport.

FAA reviews more than 450 unruly passenger reports

The reporting period for the more than 500 complaints from unruly passengers included the time around the Capitol riot. Previously, CNN had reported that several attendees struggled to access flights after the riot, and some were put on no-fly lists.

The FAA is currently reviewing more than 450 cases and has begun to take action against unruly passengers in 20 cases.

Under the stricter enforcement policy, at least four fines have been imposed on passengers, the largest of which is $ 27,500.

The agency said individuals who have been fined can respond to the agency, and it has not disclosed the final amount those individuals paid.

The passengers so far fined are accused of not wearing masks, mistreating flight attendants, shouting obscenities and drinking unapproved alcohol on planes.

In June, CNN reported that American Airlines had to temporarily suspend a passenger from its flights after the person refused to wear a face mask.
Other airlines have permanently banned passengers for not following the guidelines, including Delta, which banned 460 anti-masks.

While the FAA has not disclosed how many cases it is bringing against passengers, the agency said about a month ago that it had received reports for all modes of transport of “fewer than 1,000 passengers … refusing to wear a face mask.”

The president of a major flight attendants’ union who called for an extension of the policy called it a “major deterrent.”

“The patchwork, politically distorted discussion around masks has created confusion and conflict,” said Sara Nelson of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. “We don’t have time to fail to comply with the federal mask mandate. On an airplane, that behavior puts everyone at risk and we can’t stand it.”

The FAA’s sanctions are separate from those the TSA can issue under a series of security guidelines.

CNN’s Pete Muntean contributed to this report.

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